Southampton v West Ham Tips | 6th February 2016 | Sky Sports 1

THE Saturday evening game sees Southampton take on West Ham. Chris Graham (@chrisgraham79) offers up his best bets.

Southampton v West Ham | Saturday 17:30 | Sky Sports 1

Two good sides here. One who (despite a topsy-turvy season) have probably performed to par so far in this campaign while the other have over-achieved on pre-season expectations.

It’s the overachieving side that prick my interest here purely from a price point of view. 5/1 on West Ham looks too big and I’m trying to find a way of getting them on the side.

Southampton have had an excellent month with three wins from their four Premier League games and the bonus of getting knocked out the FA Cup.

Those wins all came with clean sheets but when you consider they were up against West Brom, Watford and a soulless Manchester United outfit then one can’t go over the top.

On Tuesday their excellent run continued when they drew 0-0 at The Emirates but almost all the credit though should go to their man mountain of a goalkeeper Fraser Forster. While Arsenal chiselled away he stood up to them in style with a series of top-class saves.

Saints though need that steely defence as they aren’t the most prolific at the other end of the pitch. In just three of their last 15 matches have they scored more than one goal and that seems an angle to exploit here.

I love getting with West Ham at big prices this season. They’ve had a string of massive odds victories throughout the campaign and have lost just five games throughout the league campaign. Only Leicester and Spurs have lost fewer.

The sides met just six weeks ago of course and that ended in a 2-1 win for the Hammers at Upton Park. Southampton deserve to be favourites but as short as 13/20 in some books feels an insult to the East London club.

I’ll back West Ham +0.75 on the Asian Handicap at odds against, meaning that even if they lose by one goal I’ll still get half my stake returned. I’ll top that up with a punt on the Under 1.5 Goals, a bet that’s paid out in five West Ham games in the last two months.

About Author

Chris first got interested in betting back in 2000 when he began working in betting shops throughout Scotland. He has remained in the industry ever since, specialising in marketing and PR roles. Outside of betting, his interests are listening to Blur and following Queen Of The South.